Fake E-mails Masquerading as Messages from Norton Anti-Virus Detected

Fake electronic mails posing as a security alert that Norton anti-virus issued have been found to presently spread online while aiming to attack unwitting end-users, published softpedia.com in news dated May 16, 2012.

Using a header, "Protection Notification," the scam e-mail addressing recipients as "Dear Valued Customer," tells that Norton anti-virus has spotted one strange operation being conducted through their e-mail account. For making sure that no malware or virus infects them, the user needs to instantly safeguard his account, the e-mail suggests.

Subsequently, the e-mail directs the recipient for following a given web-link named "Protect My Account" and concludes with expressing regrets for any trouble mooted to him since the anti-virus company regards the user's safety with full importance.

What's more, the e-mail even tries to sound genuine and lawful so it tells the recipient that the current e-mail is keeping in mind designated recipients solely. In case anyone has mistakenly got the e-mail he may kindly erase it followed with informing the sender about it without any delay. Moreover, the federation doesn't permit the revelation alternatively any utilization of the above contents of the message, it ends.

Security analysts, who examined the e-mail state that it's surely not a Symantec or its Norton subsidiary's message, but an overly unrefined attempt at filching login particulars of unwitting recipients' accounts. If anyone gets influenced with the ruse or opts for the web-link, he'll be led onto one fake web-page that would direct him for furnishing his e-mail id as well as account password.

Once users feed in the requested details as also hit the fake web-address, they'll get automatically diverted onto Norton's real site, in the process, miss perceiving that they've merely posted the details for online scammers.

Often, the scammers utilize such stolen details for gaining admission into their victims' e-mail accounts followed with dispatching more scam and spam mails from those hijacked accounts to the e-mail ids listed in their address books so the recipients believe they've got messages from someone they know, the analysts conclude.

Consequently, users are recommended that they should erase such unsolicited electronic mails.